You’ve got it rough when your crush prefers someone who isn’t even conscious to you.

The countdown till the end of the series continues and of course the burning question on our minds! When will Kirito save Asuna? Lately it seems like he is always getting sidetracked in his true quest, but whatever, I am sure he will save her soon! So what are your thoughts this week, Overcooled?

I don’t even know if I can gather my thoughts, I’m still pretty depressed that we had to use the tentacles tag for this show TWICE. I want to cry. Just….just go! Start the post!

Surprise Hospital Quest

Foshizzel // Boy there were some shocking developments this week! Just kidding there really wasn’t much going on aside from Sugu who decided to tag along while Kirito took a trip to the hospital to visit Asuna, but I think we all know why. I think Sugu just wanted to check out her competition for Kirito’s heart-o! Just kidding if anything curiosity got the better of her; however I just can’t understand why these two have not figured out they have been questing together in ALfhiem Online this whole time! SERIOUSLY how dense are these siblings? Then again I KNOW why because the creators want something dramatic to happen later on which is kind of lame. That means we are going to have to sit through some forced drama later on? No thanks! Been there done that with similar arcs in the past.

There was also something else mentioned on the bus ride to the hospital. Apparently all of the surviving students of the SAO incident went to the same school because they missed over two years of school?! Why the hell wasn’t that animated? I would have loved to see that kind of real world arc, but that would have been like three episodes about Kirito getting a harem in real life right? Anyway part of me died laughing when Kirito said he had some “physiological problems” from my point of view it doesn’t appear he had much of that besides his short breakdown in his bedroom; however magically he is fine next time we see him. I suppose fans of the anime series won’t really know how screwed up he was after beating the game huh? Still, I wouldn’t put it past the creator to make our main hero immune to having any serious emotional issues because he is such a bad ass…

Overcooled // The romance drama continues! Suguha probably thought she could come to terms with her feelings for Kirito by seeing Asuna, but it just makes matters worse. Even though she sees him clearly in love with her, she can’t extinguish her feelings so easily. It’s kind of sad that she has to hide her feelings since they won’t be returned and act happy for her brother’s sake, and we really see just how much of a toll that’s taking on her this week. She’s been very discreet about it until now (now being her breakdown in the inn where she bawls her eyes out). The sad thing is that as Kirito shuns her in the real world, so does his player online. It’s like everyone she meets already has someone important in their lives. Of course, they’re the same person, but it’s no fun for Suguha to have to always play second fiddle. I really hope she doesn’t try to confess in the game, only to get shut down. Twice. It might be better if her identity is kept a secret and the two of them never exchange real names. Kirito came close to figuring out what her sister was up to, but hasn’t seem to have twigged in to the fact that Leafa = Suguha yet. Whew.

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Super Slimy Scientists

Foshizzel // Try saying that three times fast! While Sugu and Kirito visit Asuna in the hospital she manages to escape her giant birdcage and attempts to run away, but she enters a very odd room filled with virtual brains of some players all over the place, which leaves her to ask what the hell is going on here!? Simply put that room is the experiment room where Sugou can test out his evil memory altering plan…yeah…great job on the security buddy. As interesting as it was to watch her sneak around I just couldn’t help but face-palm because she had the perfect chance to escape the game, but of course we have to build up tension somewhere right? Now for the worst moment in Sword Art Online history aka random-attempted-tentacle–rape-scene-of-lame! Yes that whole scene was so freaking dumb; however almost every fantasy based anime series has some tentacle-rape-related-garbage so I wasn’t all that surprised to see such an event like that especially with Asuna.

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Brain-powered

SMELL YA LATER, FLOATING BRAINS.

Overcooled // Sugou’s eeeeeevil plan to transplant memories into players seems to be moving along smoothly. He seems to be working alongside some scientists in real life who are willing to be quiet about his unethical research methodologies. It’s not very surprising given how scummy they proved to be. They clearly don’t care about human beings, and are willing to sexually assault Asuna for a bit of off-duty fun. Sickos. But back to the memory-implantation experiment! It’s going well, although perhaps some people are trying to rebel and maintain their sense of what it real and what is fake. Those people are flagged for monitoring. In the end, I wonder what Sugou will use the results for. Would he use it on a wide scale to all of the players in Alfheim Online? If so, what would he use it to do? Make them buy his products? Form an army of reclusive gamers to take over Japan? He’s not the most practical person, so it’s hard to tell what he has to gain from this aside from forcing Asuna to love him.

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Final Thoughts

I’m quickly running out of things to say about SAO since it has been rinsing and repeating the same themes and ideas over and over. I could lament over the use of tentacles, but that’s been done before. Kirito breaking the heart of a girl because he loves Asuna isn’t new either. Saving Asuna certainly isn’t new. I’m really tired of eating up the same story every single episode. I really don’t care about saving Asuna, or Suguha’s mixed feelings, or Kirito exposing Sugou’s evil deeds to the world. I’ve been worn out. I wish SAO ended with Kirito limping through the hospital hallways to Asuna, because at least it wouldn’t have a forced continuation. And you mean to tell me there is even MORE after this in the light novels? Man…that finale better be good….

Lately I have not been impressed with the recent episodes of Sword Art Online because it feels like they are dragging their feet at this point. Yeah, I know they are building towards something epic, but damn, it feels really slow. Maybe they are saving the best stuff for the ending? Anyway there were some alright things this week besides all of the terrible tentacles! Like the real world scenes? I really enjoyed watching those short moments with Sugu visiting Asuna in the hospital even though part of me feels sorry for Sugu because you know she is going to have her heart ripped out. Well we kind of already saw part of that with her breakdown in the inn with Kirito, but you have to wonder if maybe he already figured out her identity? I am sure he will play it off as “oh I had no idea.” Which will only make me roll my eyes…anyway did anyone else kind of laugh when Kirito took off after Yui detected Asuna in the area after Leafa clearly said there was an invisible wall blocking players? Then again leave it to the master of video games to break through that barrier because he is just so cool.

Who needs GPS when you’ve got Yui? She’ll track you down and make sure you’re still visiting Metanorn…:3

Asuna is awesome at improvising when things turn out bad for her. That’s what makes her a good character. She’s not a total damsel in distress. If only she had her sword then she’d cause some serious damage on those creeps.

Apparently all of the surviving students of the SAO incident went to the same school because they missed over two years of school? Why the hell wasn’t that animated?

…Because it hasn’t happened yet?
It’s only been 2-3 months since they got out of SAO(currently January when they got out last November).
Kazuto is talking about the government’s plan of putting all the student players of SAO in one school when classes officially start, which is in April for Japan. So technically, Kazuto’s currently a NEET. So yeah.

Oh and:
>baaaaaawwww Onii-chan won’t love me because he already has a girlfriend
>Well, it’s okay. I still have that cool guy I met in an online game
>BAAAAAAWWWWWW he’s actually my Onii-chan.
Forever Suguha

Fosh, my impression was that they hadn’t started the school yet, that’s just what the plan is, and he’s going to start soon (tomorrow?). Maybe we’ll still get to see some of that, although we’re running out of shows to get to the top.

I kind of get why this is feeling dragged out. We got used to the fast pace earlier in the series. And once again, I think the ‘side stories’ out of order were freakin’ brilliant series planning, no matter how much other people whinged about them. It kept us from having *this exact problem*. Getting from here to there is boring as hell, even if you’re Bilbo Baggins. But they didn’t have the same kind of material to use for ALO that they did for SAO, so we had to work the ‘side stories’ into the traveling part – the attack on the bridge, the rescue at the political summit – and that just makes it seem like they’re dinking around, especially because we know there’s a clock ticking. Although that clock is still somewhat meaningless, imo.

I just thought of this. If they have Asuna freakin wake up in the middle of the damn wedding ceremony in her room and say “I don’t!!!”, I think my eyes will roll out of my head and out the door. Don’t do that! Pleaaaaase.

Some, probably most, LN fans regard ALO as being the weakest arc because of this weird pacing. Plus all the things about Sugu and Asuna(incest, damsel in distress, tentacles).
I still like this arc though even with that. The thing was that I didn’t pay much attention to the time limit and just let the story flow.

And don’t worry, as long as you hate Suguo with a passion, you will surely love the ending.

Yeah I know it hasn’t happened yet! I jumped ahead of things but like I said it will still be the same thing over and over again even if that gets animated just in the real world vs game world.

Wings man! Blame the wings! They make for faster travel aka Kirito doesn’t even need to walk and we get nothing for “plot” and I agree lately it feels as if the story is dragging along as we build up towards the final episode.

Yeah at this point Kirito has not deicided on whether or not he wants to go to the school for SAO survivors. So needless to say he is not going to a school which is why there is no real world stuff for him. But really that is almost always the case for this series.

I sorta agree that ALO does not have the best pacing in comparison to the Phantom Bullet arc of the LN. This arc has brief moments of action then a lot of talking so yeah not the best.

Yeah I keep hearing that Phantom Bullet is the BEST arc of all time, but I guess they are gong to drag that out for 24 episodes if SAO grabs a 2nd season? For some reason that just sounds dumb…or is it that long? I don’t think they could do it unless its like 10+ episodes of filler/side stories?

At this point, I’m just curious to see how the remaining episodes are going to close this out. So far, the story has been taking its precious time moving along. But I’ve got to admit, the territories in ALfheim Online are a lot more beautiful than the ones in Sword Art Online.

Sugu wins points for being supportive to Kirito by tagging along with him to hospital to visit Asuna but in end, she’s only making it more painful for her than it needs to be since her love will remain unnoticed and unrequited. I can understand with Kirito not knowing Leafa is really Sugu because her character doesn’t resemble her real life appearance but I’m not so lenient with her not knowing Kirito is her brother. He looks pretty much the same. That fact makes the situation kind of irritating.

Sugou is one sick bastard for manipulating the brains of others. He needs a world class ass kicking. Neither did I appreciate the attempted tentacle rape on Asuna from Sugou’s cronies. Most people who work for scum like him willingly are scum themselves but this takes it too far.

Kirito was a bomb on a short fuse when he got into the game. Hearing that particular piece of info from Yui especially when he’s so close to rescuing Asuna, it’s only natural he’d lose it and jet off without thinking. Classic traits of a shounen lead who’s hopelessly in love.

I kind of wonder how much of him looking like his real self is just convenience for our sake. And we also don’t know what the rest of the Spriggans look like, so they could all look alike or something.

Suguha also has the classic girl problem that she likes two guys, but can’t muster up enough courage to tell either of them that she likes him. In fact, she hasn’t told anybody at all. So she’s basically hoping that the object of her affection likes her more than anyone else (which she knows for a FACT Kazuto doesn’t, and she knows that Kirito is trying to find Yui’s “mama”.) But still, not saying is not going to get her anywhere.

One question: Do we know if Kazuto knows that he and Suguha are not blood siblings?

I made a case about this before. A character’s appearance in ALO is randomly generated(as said in episode 16) and I’ll add that there is a certain fee for customization.
Even if Kirito looks like Kazuto, Leafa didn’t suspect him as his brother that quickly because of reason above. And Kirito showed traits of being a noob who doesn’t know left to right in the game so his appearance shouldn’t be customized. Plus, Suguha kind of thinks that his brother wouldn’t touch a VR game again because of SAO so even if Kirito looks like his brother, she has no reason to suspect her brother is playing a game. Little does she know…

And yes, Kazuto clearly knows that he and Suguha aren’t blood siblings. It’s been mentioned 2 times I think; in episode 4 with Silica and in episode 15 in a flashback of Suguha and her mother Midori beside Kirito’s bed in the hospital.

I guess she wouldn’t be able to guess it’s her brother. ButyYou would think she’d at least comment “wow, this guy sounds, acts and looks almost exactly like my brother. What a coincidence!” even if she didn’t make the ACTUAL connection given the other details about customization. She really sees no similarity?

Now that I think about it I am really annoyed they skipped Leafa and Kirito getting sucked into the high level underground dungeon. I am probably just annoyed because I like things to progress just like in the LN but I suppose it was a good thing they did not. If they included it, it would probably just cause more complaints about the story being dragged out but oh well.

I am increasingly realizing I am willing to ignore plot holes or reused themes if I am reading something compared to when I watch the anime. Maybe that is because I do not really have much of a book critique in me as an anime one. Ah well.